Seminars Archive
Science and Future Opportunities of MeV Ultrafast Electron Scattering
Xijie J. Wang
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Abstract
X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) revolutionized ultrafast science. One of the enabling technologies of XFEL is high-brightness electron source based on the photocathode RF gun. The MeV electrons produced by the photocathode RF gun also made it feasible for MeV ultrafast electron scattering [1-2]. MeV ultrafast electron scattering became a new frontier in ultrafast science due to its capability of following dynamics on femtoseconds scale with the high spatial resolution and sensitivity [3-4]. Furthermore, MeV electrons experience less multiple-scattering, and possess “real” flat Ewald-sphere; MeV ultrafast electron diffraction (MeV-UED) is an ideal tool to explore both structure and dynamics using total scattering technique. MeV-UED had broad and transformative impact on ultrafast science, such as the first 2-D materials ultrafast structure dynamics [5], light-induced transient states of quantum materials [6-7], the first direct imaging of fundamental chemical processes [8-9] and hydrogen bond dynamics in liquid water [10]. Recently, we have demonstrated the first operando experiment in ultrafast [11] and the first successful ultrafast visualization of incipient plasticity in dynamically compressed matter [12]. I will discuss current status & future scientific opportunities of MeV-UED, and also its synergy with (soft) XFEL.
1. X.J. Wang et al, Phys. Rev. E , 54, No.4, R3121 -3124 (1996).
2. X.J. Wang et al, Proceedings of the 2003 Particle Accelerator Conference, 2003, pp. 420-422
3. P Zhu et al, New Journal of Physics 17 (6), 063004 (2014).
4. S. Weathersby et al, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 2015, 86, 073702−073707.
5. E. M. Mannebach et al, Nano Lett. 15, 6889 (2015).
6. E. J. Sie et al, Nature 565,61–66(2019).
7. A. Kogar et al, Nat. Phys.16, 159 (2019).
8. J. Yang et al, Science 361, 64 (2018).
9. T. J. A. Wolf et al, Nat. Chem. (2019).
10. J. Yang et al., Nature 596, 531–535 (2021).
11. J A. Sood et al, Science 373, 352 (2021).
12. M. Mo et al, Nat. Commun. 13, (2022).
